Over the last few years, AT&T Inc.’s national re-branding efforts included a redesign of the company logo, which necessitated the replacement of 7,000 channel letter signs on more than 6,500 AT&T office buildings and retail locations.
The channel letters incorporate the GE Lumination Tetra® LED lighting system, a product of ecomagination from Lumination, GE Consumer & Industrial’s LED business. AT&T is expected to save more than 5.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year and eliminate 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or the the equivalent of planting more than 950 acres of trees.
Approximately 2.6 million GE LEDs replaced the high-voltage neon and less-efficient, linear, fluorescent lighting, which performs less favorably than LEDs in cold climates.
"Companies like AT&T that pay to operate thousands of signs every day are quick to recognize the value of a high-quality LED signage system," said Eric Stevenson, GE's Global Product Manager – Signage. "The energy-savings differential is significant, but it's often the maintenance savings that seals the deal. Our GE Tetra® LED system, with a 50,000-hour rated life, eclipses the life of incumbent fluorescent systems by more than three years. Our LED system virtually eliminates the problem of burned out signs, which is common for both neon and fluorescent systems."
According to Stevenson, high-rise backlit signage is challenging to maintain because the signs are frequently mounted many stories above ground level, requiring large cranes or helicopters to conduct maintenance or repairs.